1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular visual assistance system for enhancing the safety of driving a vehicle by eliminating a blind spot due to a pillar that obstructs the vision of a vehicle driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pillars are disposed on opposite sides of a windshield of a vehicle to obstruct parts of the field of view of a vehicle driver on a driver's seat, so that areas behind the pillars become blind spots when the vehicle turns left or right. It is therefore necessary to pay more attention when turning left or right, and there is a demand for eliminating such blind spots due to the pillars.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-122176 discloses a technique in which an image of the background of a subject is taken in advance by a camera and the taken image is projected on an object having a retro-reflective function, thus optically erasing the subject.
By further developing the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-122176 so that the background image taken by the camera is projected on a subject having a retro-reflective function in real time, it would be possible to optically erase the subject by showing the background on the subject in real time. Further, by applying this technique to a vehicle so as to optically erase a pillar, it would be possible for a vehicle driver to obtain a view with the pillar made transparent, thereby eliminating the blind spot due to the pillar.